thanks, lady stardust, for bringing up frances farmer. her face looks like polished marble or something, very impressive. i never heard of her before, that's a sad story about her life.

luxury's lap, thank you, too. the hedy lamarr pics are wonderful. (do you know, if this bust was made after her image, or is it just a coincidence, that they look similar?) elissa landi (whom i never heard of) is supposed to be the secret granddaughter of sisi? does that mean she is the secret daughter of one of sisi's children or is she the daughter of a secret child of sisi? i'm confused..

"Elissa Landi was an actress in 1923 - 1943 and a writer 1944 - 1948 writing 6 novels and books on poetry. She was born Elizabeth-Marie Kuhnelt in Venice, Italy December 6, 1904 and lived only 43 years until 1948 when she died of cancer in New York. She had one daughter, Carolyn Maude Thomas. Elissa Landi is believed by some people to have been the secret granddaughter of Sissi (Empress Elizabeth), the beautiful consort of Emperor Franz Josef of Austria. I (an American decendant of Elissa's) have a book, that Elissa Landi's mother, Countess Zanardi Landi, wrote called the Secret of an Empress, published in 1914 by Cassel and Co. It deals with the life of her mother, Caroline. The book is full of information. I have lived in Austria and can confirm a lot of the places it deals with. Later in her life she (Caroline) was forced in to a marriage with an Austrian officer, Richard Kuenelt. Elissa had an older brother, his name was Anthony Franz Kuehnelt, born Nov.17 1902. Elissa was born Dec. 6. 1904. The book does not say anything about Venice Italy. The family had bought an old farm at Kleinhart just outside of Vienna. Kuehnelt went through Caroline's money, left to her by her mother the Empress."
I couldn't find anything else on the internet. A Royal Forum just mentioned the same bit that was on imdb.com. My guess is that the daughter/Elissa's mom was secret? Sorry!